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Tips for Safer Marketing Campaigns
Web Banner Ads: Do they work?
Top Performing Web Sites Pass the Usability Test
To build a successful marketing program, your goal is to ultimately
get the right message to the right person at the right time. Many
of the most effective marketers, use targeted direct mail campaigns.
With everyone more concerned about security issues, you should consider
the following campaign tips.
For large campaigns, perform multiple touch campaigns to announce
upcoming mailings. To announce a program, send "watch for it
messages" to your recipients via e-mail, telemarketing and/or
print advertising. For example, this month you know to watch for
the mailing from Ed McMann.
Make your mailings look as business-like as possible. Use envelopes
preprinted in color with your return address and web address. Other
items to include are your company logo, phone number and contact
email address. Including these items will make the reader more comfortable
when they are evaluating where the piece came from. Further, since
multiple touch marketing efforts are required to be successful and
build name recognition, repeated use of your corporate logo will
help accomplish this task.
Utilize postcards for your direct mail campaigns. Postcards are
an effective marketing tool to grab attention, make announcements
and promote your company, your products, and your services. You
can read about additional tips on postcard direct mail campaigns
can be found in this issue of Market Wise E-news at (insert link).
In a related trend, some companies today use digital files or digital
brochures in addition to or in lieu of direct mail. To provide customers
with quick and easy access to corporate marketing information, numerous
companies use digital brochures. Companies place their digital brochures
on their corporate web site and/or are e-mail them to prospective
clients. Digital brochures are visually appealing, available immediately
and low cost. A client only needs to have Acrobat Reader to view
this document. And, with a nice color printer, they can print as
many copies of your marketing piece as they require.
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Ever since the inception of the Internet, companies have been struggling
to be seen. Pop-up and banner ads are a popular way to "advertise"
on the net. Recently, much talk abounds about how successful such
advertising is. Specifically, whether banner ads work.
There are a number of things to consider when determining how to
market you company via the Internet. For example:
- Determine your goals ahead of time. Developing realistic goals
are critical. Banner ads work most effectively for increasing
awareness and branding.
- Establish a marketing budget. One benefit of Internet advertising
is the relatively low cost.
- Measure your results. Banners ads are both measurable and quantifiable.
The benefit of using the Internet as you marketing medium is the
measurability of results. Monitor your conversion rate and your
click through rate. The conversion rate shows whether the desired
action was taken by the viewer, i.e. was the sale made?
- Target your marketing efforts.
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Having a usable web site is critical to your success. If you customer
can not find what they need on your site, they will leave.
In a survey of 2263 consumers by Jupiter Media Metrixs, they found
the following reasons visitors leave a web site:
84% links that take too long or don't work
68% can't find the information needed
31% info cannot be found
23% search function is limited
16% links are poorly labels
11% advanced search is difficult to use
9% search capabilities are too broad
The bad news is you may never know how many potential customers
have left your site, or why. The good news is you can reduce the
likelihood that consumers will leave by creating a highly usable
web site designed with your potential customer in mind.
One way to overcome these issues is to perform usability testing
on your web site. There are various outside agencies performing
usability testing, or many companies elect to perform the testing
in-house. This testing involves gathering a sample group of your
customers, allowing them to visit your site in a controlled environment
and watching how they navigate through your web site.
An i-space assessment is another option. Market Wise's i-space
assessment is a comprehensive 60-page report evaluating your entire
web site. The report is complied by a team of writers, web masters,
designers and marketing professionals. Our team visits your site
as a potential customer would and records both positive and negative
features of your current site. However, our evaluation does not
end there. We offer solutions to improve usability, search engine
positioning and your site's overall performance.
A good web site is instrumental in today's down economy. Primarily
a marketing tool, your web site is often the first impression your
customers get of your company. And, with the abundance of competing
web sites out there, you must make the investment to ensure you
accomplished your goals.
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